Increasingly, more and more surgical procedures are being performed through small openings (e.g., an incision or a natural opening) in the skin with the goal of reducing the invasiveness of the procedures. As compared to the larger openings typically required in traditional procedures, smaller openings result in less trauma to the patient. By reducing the trauma to the patient, the time required for recovery is also reduced. Generally, the surgical procedures that are performed through small openings in the skin are referred to as “endoscopic.” If the procedure is performed on the patient's abdomen, the procedure is referred to as “laparoscopic.” Throughout the present disclosure, the term “minimally invasive” is to be understood as encompassing both endoscopic and laparoscopic procedures. Cannulas can be utilized during a minimally invasive procedure to facilitate passage of endoscopic instruments.
In many surgical procedures, including those involved in endoscopic surgery, it is often necessary to suture bodily organs or tissue. Endoscopic suturing procedures can be challenging due to the small openings through which the suturing of bodily organs or tissues must be accomplished. Typically, the dimensions of the needles of endoscopic stitching devices are restricted by spatial limitations of the cannulas utilized to introduce the stitching devices into the surgical site.
It would be advantageous to have an end effector of an endoscopic stitching device that can be advanced through spatially limited access devices (e.g., cannulas) while supporting long needles. The advancement of stitching devices with long needles into surgical sites would enable a clinician to suture tissue with larger thickness as compared to stitching devices with short needles.